Click for larger image Naomi C. Campbell, age 87 of Clarkton died Saturday, April 21, 2012 at Liberty Commons Nursing and Rehabilitation in Whiteville. Funeral services will be held 1:00 PM Wednesday at Pierce’s Chapel AME Zion Church, Clarkton with Reverend Gregory Spaulding and Reverend Harris Branch officiating. Interment will follow in Mitchell Field Cemetery, Clarkton. She was the widow of Pleasant M. Campbell, Sr. and the daughter of the late Roland and Mattie Spa

On September 7, 1859 John H. Merrick was born a slave in Clinton and raised by a single mother. He received no formal schooling, but learned to read and write in a Reconstruction school. By hard work and simple faith, Merrick rose in the world to organize the largest insurance company owned an operated entirely by African-Americans. Perhaps his personality, which was his greatest asset, accounted for the success he attained in life. He seemed to possess a charm that easily wo